SWAT 3: Elite Edition

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We take a look at the upcoming multiplayer expansion for Sierra's tactical shooter.

By IGN Staff

When SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle was released last November, it received its fair share of acclaim from critics and gamers alike. But there was one major element that was missing: multiplay. It may be a little late, but with the impending release of SWAT 3: Elite Edition, the biggest downfall of SWAT 3 is about to be eliminated. Much to our delight, associate producer Cade Myers dropped by our offices yesterday with build in hand to show us what we can expect from Sierra's upcoming multiplayer addition to SWAT 3.

Of course, the most welcomed addition is multiplay. SWAT 3: Elite Edition lets you play with up to five others either over a LAN or the Internet. Five may seem like an odd number, but remember that your SWAT element is comprised of five members, so it makes perfect sense for co-op mode. In addition to co-op, also expect to see standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, and last man standing multiplay modes. To enhance the multiplay experience, the development team has added all new audio into the game so you can respond to your element leader while you're scouring a building for terrorists. And to make orders easy to follow, the team has included waypoint lines which will lead you to the next objective that your leader wants you to complete.

Elite Edition will come with five new maps: Chang's Chinese Theater (loosely based on Mann's Chinese Theater), a Los Angeles subway, a hospital, a house in the LA hills, and a small commuter airport. All of these new missions will be playable in both multiplay and single play, so you can get some practice before you go in with live players. There are also a whole slew of new armor types, camo variations, and weapons. Now you can outfit your group with heavy armor and AK-47s in multiplayer mode if you want, so you're not just locked into the standard SWAT load-out. A convenient MOD overlay program will also be integrated into the game. Simply put all of your MODs in one directory and let the game take care of setting everything up with the click of a few buttons. Two MODs will be shipped with Elite Edition, a classic gun sounds MOD that includes real gun sounds and a commander pack with new skins and guns. Sierra is also including a full editor that will allow you to build your own missions, skins, and insert custom .wav files for your troopers.

As you can tell from these screenshots, SWAT 3: Elite Edition looks every bit as good as the original. Like the original, the development team hasn't skimped on level design, and the real-feel environments really add a lot to realistic shooters like SWAT 3. We've been playing SWAT 3: Elite Edition all day, and we can tell you that multiplay is something this game has been direly missing. It's just plain fun to take out terrorists as a consolidated group, especially if you can bark orders at each other while you're playing like we can around the office.

While the Elite Edition, which will include the full game plus all of the extras, will be available in stores in early October, those of you who already bought the game don't need to worry about spending more money just to get multiplay capabilities. Registered users will be able to download all of the extras from the Elite Edition from Sierra's website. The files are going to be quite hefty (expect around a 50MB download for the multiplay patch as well as around 20MB for each map), but at least it's only going to cost you some time and none of your hard-earned dough.